A strong advocate for children, families, education and health issues, service is the driving force behind Senator Vivian Davis Figures. In 1993, she ran for the Mobile City Council to be a voice for the voiceless. Due to the untimely death of her husband, Senator Michael A. Figures, she was later elected in a 1997 Special Election with an 87% victory to the Alabama State Senate to serve the remainder of his term. She was re-elected in 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018. Her election in 1997 made her the first African-American woman to be elected to the Senate from Mobile County and the second one in the state of Alabama. In 2008, Senator Figures became the first African American woman in Alabama to become the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, and she made history when she was elected by her Democratic Senate colleagues to serve as Minority Leader in 2013, making her the first woman elected to leadership in either the Senate or the House. Her 22 years of service in the Senate now makes her the longest serving female in the Alabama State Senate.

Senator Figures serves on many Senate standing committees including Finance and Taxation, Education; Rules; Judiciary; Education Policy; Confirmations; and Mobile County Local Legislation. In 2012, the Governor appointed her to serve on the Board of Trustees at Jacksonville State University. She has been appointed to many Special Task Forces, Commissions and Committees in the State of Alabama and nationally because of her commitment and dedication to education, health, children and families.

Because of her sponsorship and passage of the Alabama Clean Indoor Act, she was awarded the National Tobacco Award from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and the Outstanding Advocate Award from the American Heart Association. In 2005 she was honored to be invited as one of 25 Leaders in Politics and Education from across the world to participate in a Roundtable Discussion on Higher Education at Oxford University in Oxford, England.

Senator Figures was featured on the front cover of the Council of State Government's September 2012 issue, Capitol Ideas, because of her strong support for individualization both in K-12 and postsecondary education, and was also featured in Governing and Glamour magazines in 2018. Among the numerous awards, recognitions and accolades Senator Figures has received throughout her career, she was chosen as a recipient of the Elected Women of Excellence by the National Foundation for Women Legislators. She was selected among 25 female state and local leaders to participate in its 2018 Women in Government Leadership Program. She received the NOBEL Women (National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women) 2018 Lifetime Achievements Award; and the 2018 Lifetime Achievements Award from the Vernon Z. Crawford Bar Association.

Senator Figures is the proud mother of three sons, Akil, Shomari and Jelani; and one granddaughter, A'Kayle. She is a member of Living Word Christian Center, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the Alabama New South Coalition and the Alabama Democratic Senators.